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The shutdown is hitting retail hard. Stores remain closed until January 17, after which customers can only go shopping with a negative test.
The now third blockage of the Christmas holidays is not only causing long faces in the population, but also in the retail trade. “The announced closure of all non-food trade from December 26 to January 17 is again at an inopportune time for businesses in difficulty, it enters fully into the Christmas business and its ramifications,” the trade association complained on Friday. the night through a transmission.
Worst of cases
“The third lockdown is the worst case scenario for our industry. December is by far the most important month of the financial year with the highest turnover,” said Rainer Will, managing director of the trade association. The non-food trade would experience a loss of sales of around 900 million euros per week. Due to the free trial strategy, between January 18 and 24, you can only go shopping with a negative Corona test, entrepreneurs expect more losses.
Will paints a grim picture: “Those international online giants without a permanent establishment in Austria who pay little taxes in this country and contribute little to the common good will primarily benefit. Amazon’s financing program remains unchecked.”
control
But who should (hopefully) check numerous clients for a negative corona test? Currently it is said that the police will randomly verify compliance with this regulation. For the retail sector, it’s at least a good thing that apparently no employees need to be assigned to such controls. “It has to be the same in practice,” the trade association continued. This requires that “non-bureaucratic trial options must be offered before starting work” for the 600,000 retail employees.
Click & Collect
Entrepreneurs celebrate the fact that in the third lock, unlike the first two in March / April and November / December, contactless “Click & Collect” is now also allowed. This means that retailers can at least distribute goods locally, provided their products and business models are appropriate.
Reserve parachute
From a retailer’s point of view, one thing is clear: analogous to caterers, hotels, and gaming companies, this time distributors affected by official entry bans would have to be under 80 percent protection from the federal government in December. .
“All distributors affected by the closure should receive an 80 percent revenue replacement for the closing week in December. Now you cannot distinguish between industries, as the arguments are no longer applicable. By January, of course We are also demanding income replacement to secure the 490,000 jobs in Austria’s non-food trade in the long term, “continues the director of the trade association.
“An income substitute that expires at the end of the year, while the lockdown lasts well into the new year, is completely unacceptable.”
